The Kevin Sheehan Show - Will Colt Determine Gruden's Fate?

Episode Date: November 27, 2018

Thom had an uncomfortable Thanksgiving. The Caps are on a roll; Wizards too. Should the Wizards trade Beal? Thom on Colt McCoy's game in Dallas and a discussion about whether or not McCoy can save Gruden's job over the final five games. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Yeah, that's right. Tommy's here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. Two quick notes before we get to Tommy's Thanksgiving, which apparently didn't go very well. Number one, we talked to. about the USC head coach opening. Well, there wasn't an opening. And many of you tweeted that to me. I think when was it discussed that Clay Hilton was coming back? Because I didn't know that until after we recorded the show yesterday. I think it started coming out that morning or at least being solidified that morning. All right.

So maybe we had already... It's a time zone thing, Kevin. It could be a time zone thing. It could be a time zone thing. Well, you know, Greg Huff, who is a good friend of mine and my former producer with Cooley, he at one point said to me so if it's nine o'clock here central time it's 830 right I said wait a minute save that one for the year please save that one for the year he had no idea no idea all right we'll get to the the caps who have won six in a row the wizards who got a win last night

against Houston all of the colt mccoy stuff Tommy can't wait to get to that I want to get to the Sunday night game as well and talk about whether or not Houston's a legitimate Super Bowl contender, because I believe that they are. But you, the last time we were together was a week ago. Yes. Because of Thanksgiving last week. And I, you explained your dilemma, which was you were going to your, you know, your wife's families for Thanksgiving, the in-laws. And you've spent Thanksgiving there before, and they're very nice people, but you always felt sort of uncomfortable to sort of slip away to watch the football game.

And so I said to you, well, hell, at this point in your life, just come over to my house. Just tell Liz, you'll come over to my house and we had a seat for you. You texted me early Thanksgiving morning saying, nope, you're going to head to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. So how did it go? Boy, did I make a big mistake. You did. That was a text. I wish I could have back.

What happened? I had a worse Thanksgiving that Colt McCoy did. You did? Yes. What happened? Well, we get up there and, you know, I figured about, you know, maybe 15 minutes before the game, I'll say to my sister-in-law, look, I have sort of the same situation I had in 2012 when the Redskins were playing a Cowboys in a big game and I had to go talk about it the next day on the radio. The Redskins are playing the Cowboys. It's a big game for first place.

I have to talk on a radio the following morning. So I need to watch the game. Can I? This was 15 minutes before kickoff? You dropped this on your sister-in-law? Well, but, yeah. 15 minutes before kick-up. I didn't think it was a big deal because they've done it with me before.

So she says to me, so I say, you know, I'm going to go downstairs and watch the game if that's okay. And she says, oh, we don't have that TV. No TV. In the whole house? Well, the only other TV they had is in a cabinet in the room where 25 people are talking. So you couldn't. open up the cabinet and pull the TV out there? No, that's not...

What about without sound? That's not flying. Really? That's not happening. So I have to get, I have to, I have to Google a bar that's open in Westchester, PA. On Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving. And I find one a dive bar, a bar, a bar whose bathroom was not as big as the one on an airplane.

It was a dive. And so this is how I spent my Thanksgiving meal, okay? when I sat down, I said, can I see a menu? And he looked at me like I had two heads. And he said, you want to see a menu? See those cheese crackers up there? There it is. That's the menu.

Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Cheese crackers in a bar with a couple of the other lonely degenerates on Thanksgiving afternoon watching the Redskins Cowboys. And now the best part is I get, after the game, I go back to the house. Now I'm figuring, you know, my wife, my son, save a plate for you. Save a plate for me. You know, I get back there, they ran out of mashed potatoes.

They had like 39 people at this thing. Hold on. When you decided to leave, what was your reaction when your sister-in-law said, oh, yeah, we don't have that TV anymore? Well, you know that reaction where internally you're MF and everybody, but you're not saying it out loud? Right. And you've got that blank look like everything's okay. no problem. I'll just go to the bar where like there's voices that you're trying to keep down that are saying,

you idiot. I mean, there must have been 30 emails about this Thanksgiving back and forth between people. I'm bringing this. I'm bringing that. Make sure you're here for this. Make sure you're here for that. You think somebody could have mentioned, oh,

and for the few Neanderthals that want to watch football, we don't have a TV this year. Well, but you said that this wasn't a football watching crowd. Yeah, but there's a couple of mountains. breathers who are like me. They're outsiders who will sometimes come down before. Do the outsiders usually find their way to a corner of the room and have conversation? Yeah, and usually they'll mander down to watch part of the game. Right.

So, I mean, I'm not exactly the only one. There's maybe two or three. What happened to the TV downstairs? It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. And did she offer you the opportunity to use the TV in the room where everybody was gathered. Was this the meal room or the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the pre-meal room where everybody's hanging out in various portions of the house, the kitchen,

the family room, the living room, this room, that room. Every room's a free of meal room. So why couldn't you just pull the TV out there? Oh, come on. Did you, did you ask? No, I did she offer? No. What about Liz? This is where your wife should have helped out a little bit. No, no, no. This is not happening. Kevin, this is not happening. Did Liz know? that there wasn't a TV downstairs. No. Okay. So she was caught off guard also?

She was caught off guard too. And you know whose fault this is? Of course it's my fault. It's your fault. Of course it's my fault. Okay. I just want to make sure that you're not about to start blaming everybody else. Which you usually do.

Well, I mean, you again, you could have mentioned for anyone who doesn't watch football for the sinners. She made for the sinners. For the outliers. There's no TV to watch football this year. and one of the emails about who's bringing cranberry sauce. Oh, you weren't even reading the emails. I know that.

But somebody. What's the difference? But Liz would have told me. Oh, she would have? She would have told me. Okay, well, that's probably true. Well, you know what? Save a seat for me next Thanksgiving, baby, because I ain't going back.

Guess what? Guess what my wife and I said after this Thanksgiving. Why? Starting next year, we're going away for Thanksgiving. I'm serious. We just decided, you know what? And it was nice that everybody that was, there, my sister and her husband and their girls were in from Nashville, and it was great to see them.

And the crowd that we usually have was basically cut in half, if not two-thirds, really, because my in-laws are out on the West Coast, most of them now, and they didn't come back east. And so, you know this. We've had 40 people on Thanksgiving before. Well, that's what this was. This was 15, I think we had on Thursday. which, and it was fine, and it was fine. And I think the bigger part, it wasn't the company that we had.

It was more or less just putting it together and then cleaning up afterwards. And I just said, you know what, next year, let's go away for Thanksgiving. The Redskins won't play next Thanksgiving. More likely than not, they played three in a row now. You would think they wouldn't. Although the ratings were through the roof, apparently. Through the roof. Which two years ago, I think the Redskins Cowboys on Thanksgiving in 2000.

was the highest rated game on Fox ever. Yeah. So, I mean, they may play. They may play Thanksgiving. Yeah. You know, and, you know, that's a good idea, leaving town. It's not a bad idea. It's not a bad idea.

So take me with you. So you get back, you watch the entire game. Oh, I watched the game. Okay. I watched all the pain and suffering. So you saw the whole game, and then you leave, and you're expecting to come back, and there's still, if not 39 people left. Maybe there are, you know, 20, 21 people left and the desserts out because everybody's had the dessert and there's pumpkin pie here and apple pie here and pecan pie there, et cetera.

And you're thinking that your son and Liz, you know, kept in your sister-in-law, kept a nice big plate warm for you with some turkey and mashed potatoes and stuffing. You don't even eat all that, right? No. What do you have a turkey sandwich on Thanksgiving? The turkey sandwich. I get that at Arby's, for God, you love Arby's. The big deal for me is the mashed potatoes and stuff. gravy, you know, and they ran out of mashed potatoes.

Liz said, I can give you a plate of turkey. I said, you know, I could stop at Arby's and get a plate of turkey. I mean, I want the mashed potatoes and the gravy, and they literally ran out. And you don't eat dessert, which is a shocker to many of us or to most people. I've known it for a while. How do you think I got this figure by eating pies and cakes? So did you make it back in time for the guitars and Felice Navidad? No, but we did have, we did have, I mean, tell you how big this was, there were people who flew in from Spain to come to this thing.

Well, they knew nothing about the football game. You weren't able to watch there. So I don't know if I missed all the festivities. I think I did. I'm pretty sure I did because it was pretty much wrapping up by the time I walked in ready to eat and found out there was nothing to eat for me. Oh, man. This was, so how did the drive home go? Uh, well, I mean, you expressed.

Well, again, let's point out something. What? I drove three hours to this place. Right. And I drove three hours back. So I drove six hours for this. And you spent three hours in a dive bar watching the game. You could have done that and Frederick.

Yes. Easily. Yes. You could have gone to Olive Garden and watch the game. It was me and two other lonely degenerates. Oh, boy. In the bar. Well, I'm sorry it turned out that way.

That's too bad. And it did. And you know what? Colt McCoy. didn't help my move. No, I bet he did. We'll get to that in a little bit. I will say this. I think almost anybody can sort of empathize, no, empathize with your situation because everybody's been in that spot where you go to a dinner party on a Saturday night and your wife says, oh, no, no, no, you know, Tom and, Tom and Jessica, they're great. He's a big football fan.

You know, the Notre Dame Michigan game will be on, so don't worry about it. It'll be on. They've got a big TV and then you get over there and Tom couldn't care less and the dinner party's all in one room and you're like, where's the game? You know, so it's hard to just leave the room and but you did. Now you could have, well, no, because you had to do the show the next morning. Yes. I was going to say, did you, well, you don't even have a DVR. No, I have a DVR, but I didn't feel the need.

No, I didn't feel the need to because I figured I'd be watching it. All right. There you go. Happy Thanksgiving to all of Tommy's in-laws. He won't be coming back. That's not going to happen. A couple of things from last night, three things before we get to all of the Colt McCoy stuff and the Redskins stuff. And there's more stuff. First of all, the Caps won again. That's six in a row. Is that all six since Wilson came back? Are they six and oh with Wilson? I don't know the answer to that. I probably should have looked. to see, I just figured you'd know the answer to that. No, I don't know the answer to it. I'm going to find out for you here. He's had a huge impact on the team and shows how truly valuable he is beyond just the beating up people stuff that he seems to like to do. And as long as he keeps himself under control, he seems to be one of the difference makers for the caps.

No, he is now the record with him back. He came back on November 13th for the game at Minnesota, which they won. They lost the next game at Winnipeg, and they've won six straight. They've won seven of the eight games since he returned. And during that stretch, Tommy, he's got six goals, six assists. He's an offensive force that people didn't see coming, I don't think. So the Caps have won six in a row, and last night also with the Islanders in town. No, the Islanders were not in town. I mean, I'm sorry, the game in Brooklyn, which is where they play now.

Against the islanders. Like they were in town. But they gave Barry Trots and his staff their Stanley Cup rings, which, you know, Barry Trots was very, I mean, he was dropping F-bombs during the thing in a positive way about how proud, you know, he was to be a part of it. They did him dirty. They did him dirty. Yeah.

I mean, I guess they, you know, it's odd. They didn't want to pay the coach who won the Stanley Cup championship for him. That's the only reason he's not there. They didn't want to pay. Well, they would have paid him had they not had somebody they felt was completely capable of stepping in and taking over for him. They would have had a coach in waiting no matter who it was once Barry's contract was up. They would have had somebody on the staff, whether it was Reards or somebody else. They would have planned for.

And a good organization would plan for that in case the coach would leave on his own. but I don't think they planned on winning a Stanley Cup and then they didn't want to pay to coach who won it. So now Reards is the coach and we'll see how he does. All right, the Wizards won last night. They beat Houston in overtime, 135, 131. Everybody's very excited. They are?

Yes. Really? Very excited about the big win. Well, it was a, you know, it was a big topic this morning on some of the national shows, which I had on in the back. because James Harden had 54, Eric Gordon had 36. The combined 90 points from their back court is the second most in NBA history. Kobe Bryant and Smush Parker went for 94 in 2006. Yeah, that was the record. I mean, I was wondering, as they were building towards this, this combined. At one point it was like 44 and 30, and I'm like, man, they are rolling up some numbers for a back court. 90 combined, 54 and 36.

Look, Wall and Beal went 3632. Yeah, I know. It's hard to believe Curry and Thompson didn't have it. I agree with you. Yeah. As an aside, have you seen the video? TMZ release the video of the car accident that Steph Curry was involved in last week or over the weekend. Man, it was frightening.

You've got a car that's coming right over the top of his car as he's getting pushed into the guardrail. He's lucky he walked away from that. But I guess people might be excited because since the two and nine start, the Wizards are six and three. I know. Since that two and nine start. Now, there are a couple of things I want to get to before we get to that and whether or not there's legitimate reason to be excited. I still watch this team, Tommy, and they are prone to stretches of summer league defense and poorly thought out offense. that I just can't believe exists at that level.

I like Scott Brooks personally. I've had him on the radio show so many times. I've had him on this podcast once, twice maybe, just once already. And he's such a good guy. And one of the reasons I like him a lot is he loves being here. I don't know if you've had that conversation with him. He loves D.C. He was in Oklahoma City.

I mean, so I'm sure, you know, almost anything is probably a step up. But last night, at the end of the game, at the end of regulation, there's a possession where John Wall, they're up one with 24 seconds to go and he decides to go one on four on a fast break. You talk about low IQ basketball in that spot. Now Houston answered with a stupid play on their own. But then at the very end of regulation, does it ever get old because it's so exciting to watch John Wall take the last shot of a game, isn't it? Because it always works out. I mean, we're sitting there, and I'm watching with my son last night.

And I'm like, you know what's going to happen. He goes, yep, ball's going to go into Wall, and everybody's going to watch Wall, and he's going to miss a shot, and we're going to overtime. Like, the chance of overtime with nine seconds to go in a tie game with the Wizards is like 95 percent. Because, look, Beal's not any better in closing out a game. But there it goes. Into John Wall, he didn't even get a shot off. Couldn't even get a shot off. Eric Gordon basically stole the ball with him with a second left.

And then Houston had a chance to win the game. And then I couldn't believe this one. And this is coaching. Sorry, it is. But they are up three in overtime, Tommy, with 1.9 seconds left after Eric Gordon, I think it was Gordon, hits a free throw. And Brooks does the right thing. He calls a timeout to advance the ball. You don't want to inbound the ball underneath their basket. in that particular position up three, you want to advance the ball so that in the event you're having a difficult time,

you can throw it towards your rim, and then they've got to throw it 90 feet because they had no timeouts left. Houston had no timeouts left, and then they got to make an 80 to 90 footer to force double overtime. So that was a good move. And then they go to throw the ball in bounce.

And where do they throw it? Into the back court, back towards their own Houston's bucket. Are you kidding? And I'm like, the last, the first thing you say in that huddle as a coach, okay, we are not going to make a pass into the back court here. Are we all, do we all agree on that?

Like if we turn it over, throwing it in towards our bucket here, they got to make a 90-footer, an 80-footer. So we're not going to throw it in that direction because, God forbid, it gets stolen, the guy pulls up from three and hits it. And there the ball goes into the back court, And I'm like, it's, they're just not, you know, I said this a lot about Scott Brooks when he was at Oklahoma City. I've had this conversation with Legler a lot. And, you know, it's just very, very disorganized.

And he's not the only one. And I know I say this about Jay Gruden a lot, too. But he's not. You know, the NBA's really evolved into this ISO, you know, one ball screen type of game, except for the really good teams, you know, that play more. more three, four, and five-man basketball, offensive basketball. But the Wizards aren't alone in the way they play. Watch Houston play. I mean, it's James Harden.

Down the stretch, every possession basically is the only guy that touches the ball. But it's James Hardin. Yeah, but they didn't have their best ball handler for the game. They didn't. I mean, that might not be the case if Chris Paul is in the game. It probably isn't the case, but it might be because that's what Houston does with Harden a lot. And look, Brooks had two true super-stomers.

stars in Oklahoma City and Durant and Westbrook. So, you know, you can look at their accomplishment and say, well, you know, he's doing the same thing here, but he's doing it with lesser players. I mean, Beel and Wall, I know they believe they're at Durant and Westbrook's level, but they're not. They're not even close. Like the debate, my son, Corbyn was saying this to me the other day. Remember when we were having the debate about Westbrook and Wall or Kyrie Irving and Wall? It's not a debate anymore. John Wall's just not in that class. And last night, by the way, statistically, he had a great game. He had 36 points.

I think he hit double-digit assists. But the end of these games are just painful to watch. My God, put a little bit of structure in there. Make sure your team doesn't do the one thing that could potentially cost you the game. There's only one thing on that in-bounds pass, and that is throwing it into the backward, having it stolen, and having somebody pull up and knock down a 28-10. footer, 30 footer at the buzzer

to force a second overtime. If you throw it in the other direction, your chance of winning the game is 100%. I guess somebody could catch it and then throw it 985 feet, but it's okay, it's 99.999% You're right. I don't

understand that. And maybe he did give instruction to do that and they just don't pay any attention to him, which by the way I think is possible. Now, to the conversation about what you say people are excited about this six and three stretch look they've beaten Miami Orlando Cleveland New Orleans without Anthony Davis right Houston without Chris Paul

they had a pretty good win against a Clippers team that was pretty hot coming in but they may have been on the back half of a back to back too I'll check that so I know the pelicans were. Yeah, well, the pelicans, the pelicans were, but they didn't have Anthony. But they didn't have Anthony Davis. So there's nothing like overly impressive about this stretch. You know, they got down 17 to start the game last night again. It's so typical. It's of them. They look disinterested when the game starts. Six of the next seven, Tommy, for them are on the road. Now, it's not the hardest of road schedules. They've got Atlanta in there, the Knicks, the Nets. Cleveland, I think, is in that stretch.

I'm just not seeing it though I'm not seeing it They are still the same team That's what I'm seeing That Bradley Beal in practice screamed and pointed to the general manager And said it starts at the top They're still the same team

That John Wall throws fits in in practice They are still a mess And John Wall It's turned out To have been an absolute disaster Of an investment His contract

is his contract is Gilbert-like in terms of this team's ability to unload him now at this point. He has at one point, I think in like four or five years, he has a player option for $46 million, a player option that would pay him $46 million. And look, if he can't shoot now in the NBA, what, 10 years in the league, he's never going to be able to. he's never going to shoot. So he, you have a point guard who can't shoot, who's, who's making, like, who's going to be making over $30 million a year next year is supposedly, quote, your team leader,

who you know you can't count on to sometimes even show up for practice. Yeah, I mean, the difference between he and Gil is that Gil actually was at that point where he physically wasn't going to be able to do it anymore. Right. But the contract was, they were lucky. They were lucky they found. Otis Thorpe to take Gilbert's contract off their hands. This is where I've said to you before.

And I'm not, I don't want to start this debate now because I said to you last week, I actually said to you a few years ago, I'm fine with them moving on from Ernie. But that's where Ernie's actually, as you've called them, the arsonist and the fireman at the same time. He starts the fire and then he's able to put him out.

And the Gilbert Arenas trade and, you know, and the Kwami Brown trade. And a lot of them were basically fires that were put out. I just don't know how anyone's. I don't know how anyone's going to pull off the John Wal trade, but this team is a train wreck still. And we haven't even gotten, you know, and we may never get to it.

We haven't even gotten to the Dwight Howard dysfunction part of the season yet because he can't even play. Well, how about the relationship, according to some reports, with a transgendered person and then sort of threats to keep that person quiet, which is the worst of the two situations, there for most of you. Some of you, the whole thing's bad. I mean, that was a shitstorm on Saturday night on Twitter to follow all of that.

Yes, it was. And listen to some of the recordings of that. You know, to me, was he at the game last night? Because, you know, he's out with this. I don't think he was not at the game. Yeah, something. I'm wondering if he's going to return. Well, he may not.

He may not. Can we get to the Beal thing real quickly, though? You had another thought, though. You were going to finish up with it. No, I was just going to say that. My point is we haven't even gotten to the Dwight Howard dysfunctioned part of the season. We may never get there. And we may not.

So Chris Sheridan, who's an NBA reporter, a long-time NBA reporter. Very respected NBA writer. Very respected NBA writer for a long time. Reported, tweeted out yesterday, quote, Bradley Beale has made it known in no uncertain terms that he wants out of Washington, Pronto, closed quote. Now, post-game last night, Dennis Scott for NBA TV interviewed Beal, and Beal totally denied it and said,

if it doesn't come out of my mouth, it's not true. And it's not come out of my mouth. His agent denied it as well. And then Chris Sheridan basically- Chris Sheridan tweeted this morning, certain things happened behind closed doors at practice, for instance. But word gets out, and that's what has happened here. I'm just going to tell you this.

if there's a good package, I am fine with saying goodbye to Bradley B. But not this guy, not with this general manager, no. This is what he's been good at. No, no, no, no, he's been good at trades. Kevin, it would, it would be, oh my gosh, you know, I can't even talk about him anymore. I can't even talk about how unbelievable it is

that he still has a job. and what it, and I feel, I feel, I'm not a very empathetic guy. No, you're not. But if I, I feel what Wizards fans feel, I feel that, that sense of disbelief. It's really, at this point, it's disbelief. How can this continue? How can Ted Leonces, who's supposedly a visionary, be so blind about this? How can he continue to block fans on Twitter who tell him the fire,

Ernie. How can he continue? Does he block people on Twitter? Oh, yes, absolutely. Oh, my God, I didn't know that. Yeah. Are you serious? And for those who want him to fire Ernie. He blocks people on Twitter? I block people on Twitter. I know you doing. I think, I think that's stupid. It reflects incredible sensitivity, but I expect it from you. I don't expect it from the AOL visionary. It's just that it's, it's It's indescribable. It's unbelievable. There are no words to explain why Ernie Grunfeld is still in that job. So one of the deals proposed that I read about, and I don't know if there, apparently

there's been some conversation about both Wall and Beal with various people. You know, the Wizards apparently were also interested in Jimmy Butler, which I, last year said I would have given up the entire team for quality. Leonard. And I said I would have given up almost the entire team. Count me in. For Jimmy Butler. But one of the potential trades that I saw or is being discussed potentially is Beal to L.A. for Brandon Ingram. I'm a big Brandon Ingram fan. But if Ernie could get one other player out of that deal from Magic Johnson and that player's name is Josh Hart, and I know that that probably is too much, although it is Beal and Beal's much more accomplished than Ingram at this point and Hart at this point.

But if you told me right now that I could get Ingram and Hart back for Beal, in a second I would do it. Here's the problem with Beal. I'm sick of him. He is in so many, on so many nights, on so many playoff nights over the last several years, I've been more frustrated with him than I have even with Beal. John Wall. Bradley Beal, you know, he's got talent, all right? He can really shoot it. He can score. He's only 25. There's a lot of things that, you know, you'd be taking a risk on by dealing him. His maturity on court, I'm not saying off court, I've heard, we've had him on the show before. I've heard him in other interviews. I think he's thoughtful. He sounds smart. I think he's probably

a great dude. I'm not going to deny any of that. But like John, They're just absent moments on the court, like just brainlapses. First of all, Beal's not a good ball handler. I said this when they drafted him. I said he's not a good ball handler, and he's going to be a turnover machine in the pros, and he hasn't really been a turnover machine necessarily, because he doesn't handle it as much as Wall does. I've never seen a guy expose the ball off the bounce more than he does,

which is why he gets it picked from him more than any player on the team. I love Beals. Look, when he spots up to shoot or he comes off a screen to shoot, or I also think he's got a good mid-range game. I think he's a much better creator of points than John Wall, which is why I never understand. I would let Beal take those last shots, and he hasn't closed out games either,

but he still would be my choice over wall. But defensively, he's way overrated, because he's another guy that only does it when he's interested. There are too many games in which, I think back, you know, game two in Boston two years ago, when they had a chance to steal one in Boston and the Eastern Conference semifinals, and he was butt awful. I think he had like nine turnovers, couldn't make a shot,

and it was just painful to watch him. He's had those. Now, he's had great series like the Toronto series. He was awesome in that series in 2015 or 14, whenever it was when they swept Toronto. I'm just, I just, I'm done with B. Like, I'm ready to move on from Beal more than I am from Wall. But anyone who you bring in...

So give me Ingram and Josh Hart in a second. But they're going to have to play with John Wall, and that's the problem. Well, Josh Hart could play with John Wall, and Ingram could play with John Wall, because Ingram, you know, Ingram's going to give you, you know, he's got some versatility. Tommy. He's got extraordinary talent. Here's what I would love about a Josh Hart. They haven't had a badass competitor like Josh Hart on the team since my boy left, Trevor Reza.

So I would think about that. I'm sure somebody will come up with a thousand reasons that I haven't thought of as to why it wouldn't work with Ingram and Hart. But the wizard should be considering all of those deals. And I know you say it shouldn't be considered by Ernie Grunfeld, but now may be the time to move on this stuff. and I don't have a problem with Ernie trying to get and extract real value in a trade. I think his analysis and I think his talent evaluation from a draft standpoint has been poor over a long period of time, and it's hurt the organization. Kevin, he doesn't value character.

I think you've got a point on that. And Andre Blotch is example one for that. He doesn't value character. and now he's got a team where they're three biggest investments. Bradley Beale wants to be traded. John Wall is screaming at the coach, and Otto Porter is hiding in a corner somewhere, not to be found. He had some big plays in overtime last night.

I know. But generally, the complaint about Otto Porter is he's too shy, period. On the court. Shy. I mean, every single time he's contacted with, you'd think literally he got shot. You know, Auto Porter's fun. because I think he's too soft, and I've always felt that about him. But at the same time, there are moments where Otto Porter gives you a lot in a game.

He does so many different things. He's not worth what he's being paid. Anyway, I don't think that this six and three stretch is like a lot to get excited about. I think they should be looking to blow this thing up, trying to get as much value for their players as possible. Young, competitive, good personality. fits, you know, I mean, like you said, he doesn't

value sort of that personality piece. They'd be getting the right personality in Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram, I believe. There's one thing that has to happen first, though. I'm listening. Ted has to sell the team. Well, it's not going to sell the team. Sell the Wizards, Ted Leonces, sell the Wizards.

You said owning a sports team was a public trust. You've betrayed that trust to the Wizards fans. God, it's amazing to me that You're so much on, like, think about this. You know, here's the tease on the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast today. Tommy is going to ask that an owner in town sell the team. What are the odds? It would be anybody but Dan Snyder.

And he wants Ted Leonces to sell the Wizards. He could take that money and invest it in bookies and geeks. It's two favorite interests. Well, all of his gambling and e-sports. Oh, God. All of his, you know, AOL and tech. exche cronies are all going to take down Vegas with their predictive modeling sports betting expertise. Good God, how irresponsible that is from someone who's supposed to be intelligent.

If you are intelligent, you should be thinking about Windon Nation. Windonation loves this podcast. Harley, Aaron, and Eric listen all the time. Harley, if you're listening today, which I'm sure you are, you texted me on Saturday and Sunday for my smell test picks because you missed them on Friday, I guess. and I sent all of them to you. And then late Sunday night, he sends me a text like, I had a rough day. And I'm like, how could you have had a rough day? I'm 13 and 4.

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You'll save today, save tomorrow. You'll save forever. Call 86690 Nation or visitwindonation.com and tell them we told you to call. All right, I want to get to Colt McCoy in a moment, but I want to really quickly talk about the Monday night game last night. Because to me, and I've said this a few times, Aaron, on this podcast, that I thought Houston would be a day. dangerous team in January when they got there because defense travels. And if you look at the

other teams, Kansas City doesn't have a defense. New England's defense is usually a smoke and mirrors defense anyway. Houston's got legitimate stars on defense, you know, in Clownie and Watt, et cetera. And this guy, Christian Covington, the kid from Rice now is is piling up a sack after sack. They've got stars on offense, too. And Deshawn Watson and DeAndre Hopper. I think they are a Super Bowl contender out of the AFC. And here's the thing, it's not impossible at all, that Houston's going to rise in terms of the seating. You know, Kansas City has not locked up the number one seat. I know that they have been incredible all season long and how exciting they've been,

but the chiefs are not an absolute lock at this point for sure to have the one seed. they're nine and two. Houston's eight and three. You know, Kansas City still has Baltimore, the Chargers, the Seahawks on the road. And, you know, if Houston's playing at home, they could definitely get to the Super Bowl. But more than some of these other teams, I always feel this way, and maybe it's a new era. And I will be proven wrong in 2018. And I've sort of been proven wrong in the last few years because Atlanta didn't have a great defense, and they got to the Super Bowl, and we've seen other cases of that more recently.

but defense travels, and defense travels outdoors well. I know it does. I know it does. Houston at New England or Houston at Arrowhead? I think they could do it. But if you have too much offense, the defense is irrelevant. But Houston has a lot of offense, too, Tommy. I think the chiefs have too much offense.

I don't see anybody in the AFC beating the chiefs. I do. I see the chiefs going all the way to the Super Bowl, where they'll get destroyed by the Saints. But I just think they have too much offense. Just too much. Nobody can contain them. I mean, you can out shoot them, but you can't contain them.

And Houston can't out shoot them. They can't move. Their offense can't move that quickly. If Kansas City were to make it to the Super Bowl, I think right now, based on current numbers, they would be the lowest ranked defense in history to make a Super Bowl. They're either dead last or they're 31st right now in overall defense. The Saints had a pretty bad defense. defense the year that bit. But it was like 22nd, Tommy.

Kansas City's right now, hold on, let me get it here. Okay, they're 30th. They're 30th right now. What were you going to say? The 2011 Patriots were 31st. No. They were 31st, the 2000. In NFL, or in Yards Aloud. Okay. In Yards Aloud. Then I stand corrected because I thought it was the New Orleans team that was the lowest ranked. So did I, actually.

What was Atlanta a few years ago? What were they ranked defensive? They got after the quarterback, though. See, I just think in this day and age, if you have an explosive quick strike offense and you can score in basically four plays, go 80 yards down the field, it really doesn't matter what your defense does. Look, here's the difference, though. We're not talking about the Houston team of the past that had no offense and had great defense. I know that.

That, you know, had a chance in Foxborough a couple of years ago. You're talking about a dynamic. offensive football team in Houston. You're talking about a good offensive football team. We're talking about an offensive football team that's continuing to get better that has legit playmaking speed and really, Tommy, a quarterback that may be right now in terms of the dual threat quarterbacks, the best. The best. He may be. I tell you what, also, I came away from Monday night thinking the Redskins played the Texans tough. Yeah, they did. They really did. Well, they did when Colt McCoy got into the game to score two

touchdowns. I know. But they I played the Texans were not as impressive against the Redskins as they were against the Titans. One other thing from last night's game real quickly. Marcus Marriota last night was 22 of 23 in that game, all right, for over 300 yards, two touchdowns, no picks in the game. But he's got no pocket presence. None. I disagree with that.

There are times where I know what you're saying. There are times with Mario, like how didn't you feel that or see it? And then there are times when he does feel it and he makes you pay for it. He was 22 of 23 for 303 yards and two touchdowns. That is the second highest completion percentage game in NFL history, minimum 20 passing attempts. Number one happened on Sunday when Philip Rivers went 28 of 29 completing his first 25 passes. What was the record before that. Mark Brunell. It was in the game at Houston. Yeah, Mark Brunel. His jersey was at his jersey was at Andy Polin Nuts that his jersey was at Canton for holding that record. I thought

somebody else had beaten that, but you might be right. But in the last two days, late Sunday and then Monday night, the two highest completion percentage games in NFL history. And I believe right now we are on pace for the best. completion percentage by a quarterback in NFL history. Drew Brees right now is completing 76.4% of his passes. And how can you say that and mention defense in the same breath? Look, I am interested to see what happens in January, in a cold outdoor venue like Arrowhead or Foxborough, with a really good defensive football team. Houston would be one of those really good defensive football teams. I've mentioned this all year long, and the defense has been up and down recently. Baltimore's talent

defensively and some of the experience should travel well also. Houston is a much better offensive team than Baltimore, much better. See, Houston now is starting to roll up some yards and points, and they look, Tennessee is a good defensive football team, Tommy, and they destroyed them last night. Yes, they did. Destroyed them. So I, oh, I wanted to mention one other thing about Marriota, about Rivers on Sunday setting that record. Brady, unsolicited, after, actually, this may have been last night. You know, Brady does that Westwood won Monday night football halftime hit with Jim Gray? I think it is, Aaron. Is it with Jim Gray that he does that? You don't know. So last night, Brady, unsolicited, talked about Rivers Day, and he said, quote, it's nearly impossible, which is the reason why it has

never been done before. Philip made incredible throws. I watched the game, because he said, they played at one o'clock. Obviously, when someone has a record-breaking performance, I want to figure out what the heck they're doing. The reality is there's a high level of difficulty on almost all the throws he made. He made great throws where the receivers could get their hands on the ball and make the catch. The receivers made some good catches. Really, the incompletion came where he got a hit a little bit as he was ready to complete a pass. It was just remarkable. I was thinking, as Brady, you know, as I was reading those comments from Brady, does Brady ever compliment anybody else?

Like you don't hear Brady go. You wouldn't even hear Brady talk, you know, in that sort of way about Peyton Manning. I'll bet he has. Maybe. I bet he has. I don't know. I don't recall anything.

Brady's not a big unsolicited. Let me talk about how great another quarterback is. No. No. You know, I wonder if he was asked. He could have been. I mean, but he had all the, I mean, there's more. There's like another two paragraphs of quote.

on Philip Rivers from Brady. I've been, as you know, a huge Philip Rivers fan for years, and I think he is a lock first ballot Hall of Famer. I really am rooting for him to get the playoff success. I want them to get in. I think that, you know, defensively,

they've missed Bosa. They haven't been as consistent. And now Melvin Gordon's hurt. Yeah. You know, it always seems that with the chargers, it's like bad luck with injuries or with a missed kick or whatever. I hope it breaks.

their way. They have had a problem, though, with the Chiefs. You know, last year, they had that big game to get to the playoffs late in the season at Arrowhead and got blown out. This year in the opener, that was really, you know, they've got three losses. They lost to Denver a week ago, and then they lost to the Rams and the Chiefs. Like, I don't have a lot of confidence that they're going to, that they can go to Pittsburgh Sunday night and win or go to Arrowhead and win. I don't have the same confidence in them that I had a couple weeks ago, that's for sure. I'm hoping for it. I would love to see that.

But right now, I think the odds are rivers would have to win three road games to get to the Super Bowl. And the three road games might be, you know, let's just say they're the five seed. So it might be at Houston or at Pittsburgh or at New England in a wild card round. And then to, you know, Kansas City or somebody like that in a divisional round. and then to Fox Brewery. I can't see him winning three road games like that. I'll be rooting for it, but I don't see it. I'm rooting all along for the Chargers and the Rams to make it to the Super Bowl,

so we have an all Los Angeles Super Bowl. I think that be kind of unique. Do you think there's any chance that they'll move the Chargers back to San Diego and admit that mistake? I don't think they're going to let the new stadium play out and see how it goes. All right, let's get to what everybody's been waiting for. It took us a little while. We had a lot to get through, and that is,

Tommy's son, Colt McCoy. I thought you forgot. His favorite son, Colt McCoy. I'll just start with this. How do you think he played against the Cowboys? He was terrible. He was horrible. I mean, some of those throws, I mean, were inexplicable.

I mean, I didn't make throws like that at Jam Hill on Thanksgiving Day. You had a football game on Thanksgiving? Well, we used to. Yeah, we did too. But he was terrible. And, you know, there's still getting around that he had moments where he had. he looked really good. But, I mean, some of those interceptions were that mentality of a guy trying to force something.

And that's not going to change. He pretty much has said, that's who I am. I'm going to give guys a chance to make a play. So this guy is really, I mean, this is Jay Gruden's quarterback. This is a guy who even if he has to throw it in the middle of three guys. he's going to give his receivers a chance to make a play. I don't know if you picked up on this, but Jay Gruden yesterday emphasized the turnovers as being a big problem,

but he also said, well, we didn't get any back either for the first time this year, which is true. Yes. You know, they didn't lose the turnover battle on Thanksgiving Day. They got crushed in it. Minus three isn't going to work against anybody for this team. In fact, even hasn't even worked for this team.

They've got to be plus. You know, it's interesting. I actually, and I talked a lot about this on Friday's podcast the day after the game, you can't, I mean, you have to start with the three interceptions, one of which was just a great play by a defensive player to Marcus Lawrence. Yeah, and wasn't a great block by Morgan Moses. But beside that, you have to start with that and you have to say, well, he's not going to be successful if he throws three interceptions in a game. We know that. With that said, there were things he did that I was encouraged by. I wasn't discouraged by. If you're at Jordan Reed, you're probably pretty happy.

Vernon Davis also. That Colt McCoy is the quarterback right now. Well, Vernon Davis probably was happy with Alex Smith when he caught the ball. I didn't think he was terrible. Look, you know my feeling about Colt McCoy. He's an NFL backup quarterback. If you start him for 16 games, if you've got a great team around them, you're going 8 and 8, 9 and 7 at best. without a great team, he's a six and ten quarterback. And so that's always been my feeling about Colt. But before the game, as you and I sat here a week ago, you know, I was cautiously optimistic that the offense would look better with Colt McCoy. And I think we did see some of that. They moved the football more consistently than they had with Alex Smith. And one of the questions,

you know, I sort of posed to myself on the Friday podcast, now I can do it with you and pose it to you is, do you think the result would have been different had Alex Smith started the game on Thanksgiving Day? No, absolutely not. And here's what I think. It's not going to matter who plays quarterback for the Redskins, whether it's Colt McCoy or Alex Smith. If they can't do two things that they did at the beginning of the year when they were winning six games and Alex Smith was the quarterback, if they can't run the ball and they can't stop the run, they can't. They can't do, do those things, it won't matter who's playing quarterback. They're not going to win.

I mean, Alex Smith, look, let's not forget the conversation we had earlier this year numerous times, that they were winning games in spite of the quarterback, not because of the quarterback. So it wouldn't have mattered. Again, they can't seem to stop anybody running the ball now. And behind this offensive line, and I'm thinking that's maybe the reason they can't seem to run the ball like they were. Well, no Brandon Sheriff is the big reason on that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you've got two.

Their formula for winning at the beginning of year was running the ball, stopping the run, and good special teams play, which created short fields. They're missing two of those components right now. Unless that changes, it won't matter how good or bad Colt McCoy is. I think you're 100% right. I think that they got to five and two because they had a top five rush defense, and they had a top eight rush offense. And Alex Smith benefited from that and would have been hampered significantly by the lack of both,

which is what you've had here the last few weeks. And I got into a debate with my buddy O, who I called out on this podcast yesterday because he's the guy that after every Kirk Cousins bad game will send me basically a war in peace thesis on how bad Kirk Cousins is. And then when he plays great, I never hear him. from him. So I called him and all the other front runners out to say when he plays great like he did Sunday night, how about just maybe a quick text to me to say, hey, your boy was really good. Because by the way, that's the majority of the games he's good in. Yes, he is. But we had this

debate about Alex Smith because my buddy owes a big Alex Smith fan. And he's like, you know, this is. He's not a big Alex Smith fan. Oh, yeah. No, no, no, no. Some of these, some, there are people out there that they're not Kirk fan. No, no, no, there are people out there. that think that the whole key to success is not turning the ball over. Like Kirk somehow leads the league in interceptions. Kevin, you're near it. I follow this on social media. You're giving him way too much credit.

It's an anti-K reasoning. It has nothing to do with Alex Smith. Here's what I would just say. Alex Smith threw two picks against the best defensive team he had faced in several weeks, Houston. He may have thrown two more picks against Dallas. Yeah, because, because they were asking him to do more because that running game was gone. Here's the thing. The tradeoff would have been less offense for fewer turnovers.

I don't think he would have thrown three interceptions in the game. Probably not. Okay. And the result to me, I think probably would have been the same. Yeah. I mean, who knows the turnovers, one of them, I think one of the turnover set up points. The other sort of took points off the board. But back to Colt McCoy, where this conversation. started because you thought he was terrible. And the three interceptions, you can't erase and you can't even get passed.

But I would just say, not trying to make excuses for him, because I'm not a big Colt McCoy fan, as you know, but he didn't have a practice leading up to it. They had a walkthrough, which, by the way, in hindsight, it's pretty lame. It's a lame. It's a mistake. Yes. You know? Not the first one by this coaching. No, no, not even close. And now he's going to have all of this practice time leading up to it. And I did see some things that indicated that the offense is going to be a little bit more potent, a little bit more potent, which they may need. He may be helpless at this point, though. Well, you've got to have at least the threat of a running game from your running back. Yeah, you do.

And now Chris Thompson practiced this week. That would be huge for them. That would be huge. I mean. And against, you know, the ironic thing, though, against the Eagles. And we could talk about this more on Thursday. But against the Eagles, even though we talk about the running game, they need to throw the ball against the Eagles. Eagles are terrible on past defense.

Yeah, but you know what they're actually? And they need to, they need to put four or five guys out wide. They need to line Chris Thompson up out wide. And if Jameson Crowder's available, line him up and Trey Quinn line him up, they need to, they need to, they need to gun sling against the Eagles. I was talking to Cooley yesterday. Yesterday, I think it was. And I said,

if Crowder comes back, which of the two plays on the outside? And he goes, it's not even close. Trey Quinn moves to the outside. They go, really, he's just such the slot guy, isn't he? You know, he just looks like a Patriots kind of white slot guy. Quickness, hands, the whole thing. He's like, no, he can play on the outside. And they know he can play on the outside.

He's incredibly versatile. So that surprised me a bit. So those of you that have had the conversation about, well, what happens when Crowder comes back since Trey Quinn all of a sudden is emerged as a pretty good player? They're going to play them both. Well, you got to find a play. You're going to put their best players on the field. Yes. But I do really believe that Chris Thompson has been missed so desperately.

And I don't know if this fractured rib, you know, that's one of those things. He's got to be healthy to play. Yeah, he does. It's got to be legitimately healthy to play. And I hope it's against Philadelphia because he's. had some big games against the Eagles over the years. But I wanted to say this before I lose this thought. You're right. Philadelphia was a good defensive team. Then the injuries happened and they've got all backups in the secondary so you can throw the football. But

recently they've been giving up chunk run yards too against teams. I think they have a chance Monday night. I think they do think they have a chance Monday. I'm not, I didn't see a Philadelphia team figure it out down 19 to three to the gym. Giants. No, I think they have a chance as well, but the defense has to play better than it has. I mean, a defense has to do a better job. Much better job. I mean, much better job. Let me tell you something about Colt McCoy. I think. Does he know how much you like him? He does, right? I think he does. And look, I like him personally because of, like everybody else who knows him likes him personally. It's a great guy. But I think, and we've had this discussion many times about other things,

I believe he can play quarterback in the NFL because I've had players on that team tell me privately and publicly. I've had coaches tell me privately and publicly over the past four years that he can play, that he can really play in the NFL. So I, again. Nobody's backed it up though. I know. Nobody's backed it up with, hey, here's a contract to become our starter.

Nobody has because once you get tagged as a sparring partner, it's hard to envision a guy as a champ. Larry Holmes dealt with this his entire career. Once you're the sparring partner, once you're to back up quarterback. That sparring partner eventually got his employer. But it's hard to shake. It's hard to shake that. And I don't know if Colt McCoy will ever do that at this point.

My point is, Jay Gruden, we've heard from DeAngelo Hall, we've heard from Clinton Portis. Jake Gruden really thinks that Colt McCoy can play. Okay, that's not BS. He really likes him. And not particularly just play, but play his offense. Okay. My contention is if Colt McCoy is a failure, this is the biggest thing against Jake Gruden.

This is where I was going to go next. Yes, this more than any other quarterback situation. If you want to judge Jake Rudin, judge him on Colt McCoy. I wanted to take that on as a conversation here, but I have to get in a read here for one of our sports. sponsors. Okay, go right ahead. And that sponsor is Ferrisch, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax. They should be on your list if you're considering something new. Go to ferrishcars.com right now to see their live inventory and best deals. I talked to Ralph yesterday, in fact, for 15, 20 minutes.

He wants to go to a Wizards game soon, so we'll go to a Wizards game and do dinner. You can come with us if you want. But I see my buddies? Yeah, well, down at the arena? Do you remember, do remember the time you and I went to a Wizards game together. It may have been a playoff game, or maybe we had to go down there with clients, I forget, and we were walking into the arena as Ted was driving into the parking lot, and he rolled his window down and yelled something to you. Do you remember? I forget what it was. And I think it was something about your more recent column that he yelled something out. I will tell you that there is no more sensitive owner in town than Ted Leonces. None.

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All right. So what you just brought up is what I wanted to get to. I think this closing stretch of the season is make or break for everybody not named Dan Snyder. I think it's Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden specifically. I think they'll probably keep Eric Schaefer. I mean, this guy has survived everything. And I know that they like Kyle Smith and Doug Williams, of course, but this is make or break for Bruce Allen and Dan's and Jay Gruden.

In my view, I don't think they can survive a bad closing stretch. There's too much apathy right now. There would need to be something to sort of jumpstart or create the perception that they're not going to stick with this same. same old, same old. Bruce Allen right now is enemy number one of the fan base. You would agree with that, right? Yeah, but that's been that way ever, that's been that way for years. I know, but they didn't have a home opener that Drew flies either. It's different, it's been different this year, Tommy. I don't, I think Bruce Allen is bulletproof. I don't. Okay. I don't think he's bulletproof. I think he's gone. He's

got the house in California. It wouldn't be a firing. It would be more of a, you know, an agreement to move on and maybe Bruce ends his football. career because I don't know who would hire him. He's well respected in the league by league executives, you know, as a, as not a football, you know, sort of evaluator, but everything else in football he's respected on. But that leads me to this, and that's what you said, and I was thinking about the same thing. If Colt McCoy doesn't play well, and the team doesn't win three of its final six games, because that's really the magic number. Yes, it is. So it's three of the final five now. Three out of five. So three of the final five to get to nine and seven should get them in. It could keep them out, but it should get them in. Either as the division winner or even a wild card at this point. If that doesn't happen, I mean, if that's not the final nail in Jay's coffin, look, Bruce was a big fan of Cole. Bruce was the one that brought Cole in. Yes, he was. People forget that. I mean, it's not just Jay. Bruce has won of Cole McCoy's biggest fans.

look neither one of them wanted the last guy and Jay wanted Colt and Bruce wanted Alex Smith but wanted to keep cold as a backup so if you get to the end of this year and we find out that well the guy they brought in Alex Smith wasn't very good

and by the way maybe has a career threatening injury and then the backup that the head coach has loved wasn't any good either how do either one of them stay because that to me this whole quarterback situation, as you know how I feel, it's been pro football negligence at the highest level.

It really has. I mean, forget about the debate over the last guy and whether you like him or don't or whether you think he's a franchise quarterback or not. The way it was handled was pro football negligence at the highest level, which has always been my most anger associated with this. If you didn't like the last guy, they got nothing for him. Nothing back for this guy. All right?

they got nothing back and then they had to go spend for his replacement. My point is, and I don't, I mean, I'm not 100% with you on Bruce, but it wouldn't surprise me. Why aren't you on, because you think he's Dan Shield? I think he gives, I think he gives the owner credibility in NFL boardrooms. And I think, I think, I think that matters. What about Brian Lafamina? Again, if I'm, if I'm Brian Lafamina, like I sit. before I'm renting.

Yeah. I think I'm with you on that. And so, but, but Jay has staked his reputation on Colt McCoy. I mean, he really has. I mean, like, you know, he was, he was passive aggressive about Kirk. We don't, we don't know if he had any role at all in acquiring Alex Smith. We don't believe he did. So, so now he's got the quarterback who we've been told by team, not just by the coach,

but by players who have been in that locker room. Remember, Quentin Dunbar said after Kirk left, he was shocked that they traded for Alex Smith because he just assumed Colt was going to get the job. Yeah. So now if Cole McCoy does not play well over this final stretch, that's on Jay Gruden. That's on his card. That's his report card. I agree.

I completely agree. It would be another thing to add to the list of week. You know, the funny thing is we never. really know what this owner thinks. Because as I've said now for three years running, he's a recluse. He is never available. Ted is always available. I mean, just read Ted's take. He's got to take every day. And so you know sort of where he's coming from. The football owner, who's not as good an owner. I'm not saying he's a better owner. He's not. Ted's a good owner of professional sports franchises. He's got a great product in the hockey product in particular.

And he's got a championship arena football team too. And I just heard about that last week. But Dan is a recluse. You know, you don't know what he's thinking, but I can't imagine he's sitting back there this year. With the three-quarter filled at best stadium, with the television ratings down, except for the cowboy game on Thanksgiving, with a quarterback that they traded for after they basically told the other guy, they didn't want any part of them. And, you know, a backup who the head coach was saying, I'd be fine with the backup, and neither

one of them works out. And they, this, this obviously presumes, the assumption here is that they don't win three of the final five. And we get to the end of the year and it's an eight and eight football team. Let's just say it's an eight and eight football team and no playoffs. I just don't know how any of them come back. I don't know how Dan, as a business person, comes up with a, you know, a situation in his mind or, you know, penciling it out where it would make economic sense to bring either one of these two back. I'm not saying that a big time hire, like let's say they hired Jim Harbaugh. You know, he gets fired at Michigan and they bring Jim Harbaugh and... What if they hired John Harba? Well, you know I'd be a big fan of that. I've already mentioned this

multiple times to people on Twitter, and I think I've mentioned it on this show. I don't think either Harbaugh would ever come here. Dan Snyder's not the owner that a Harbaugh is going to work for. I doubt. I think you're right. So they're going to have much better options like some of the better coaches had in 2014 when they settled for Jay Gruden. All right. Now, he had a relationship with Bruce, you know, through John. But so, you know, that's a big part of it too. I often forget what I say, which happens all the time with you. And it happens now more often with me. But the problem is, is the Redskins organizationally have gotten to the point where not many people really want to come here. You know, so you don't have the picking, you don't have the

selection to replace Bruce and Jay that you may have had in 2005 or 2010, for that matter, when Shanahan came here. So you've got to get really lucky and be able to spot the next great talent. And the Redskins are among many things, not lucky. and not good at spotting the next talent. They're not good at either one of those things. You know, the talent in the organization right now, Kyle Smith, everybody believes is a big-time talent. Sean McVeigh was a big-time talent.

He was in the organization. It's going to be an interesting year to be in the market for a head coach because of the situation in Baltimore and the situation at Michigan. Really, the Harbaas are going to be front and center. of the 2019 January NFL coaching search. By the way, I can't imagine that they'll let Jim Harbaugh go at Michigan. I can't. But people are talking about it after they got by Ohio State.

Let's do another scenario for the Redskins. Let's say they win three. Let's say they went four out of their last five. Finish strong with 10 wins. Play well the rest of the season. Win a playoff game at home. And win a playoff game at home. Well, you know, that's easy.

That one's easy. You know the answer to that. What's the answer? The answer is you're coming back next year with Colt McCoy as your starter. I'm not saying that that's what I would advocate as a fan, but that's the conclusion they'll reach and Jay will reach. If Colt McCoy goes out and beats Philadelphia, beats the Giants, beats Tennessee and Jacksonville,

or beats Jacksonville, loses to Tennessee, beats Philadelphia, sweeps the Eagles, and they finish 10 and 6. That would be 10 and 6. right, and they win a home playoff game against Minnesota. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, we know that's not going to happen now. But let's just say that that's what happens.

Yeah. And then they go in the divisional round out to L.A. or to New Orleans, and they lose, but it's a credible effort. No changes. No, we're heading in the right direction. The defense played well. We got all that young talent on defense that Bruce has acquired. But they might be right.

I look. That might be the right thing. They do have better young talent right now on defense than they've had in forever. Yeah. In forever. And now they're not set up great for the first time in a while from a salary cap standpoint if Alex Smith isn't your starter. No? Because is it like a salary cap penalty?

Well, it is like a penalty. Yes, it is. Because if Colt McCoy wins four out of five games and wins a playoff game because of his performance. Yes. You know, in combination with good defense. But Colt plays well too, then you're going to have to pay Colt because I think Colts got an out. He has an out. Yes.

Yeah. So you can't, like now you're going to have so much money invested in the quarterback situation. God, I'm not expecting them to win four out of five, but it's not impossible. No, it's not impossible. This is not, you know. At Philadelphia, it's not very good. Either are the Redskins. Yeah, I know that.

And the one thing about the giants that would worry me is unless, you know, but the giants are stupid. I mean, I'm thinking how are they going to stop Sequin Barclay from running the ball since they can't stop anyone? But then in the second half against the Eagles, I think Barclay touched the ball for the Giants four times. Five touches in the second half. In the second half, five.

I mean, this guy, Pat Shermer, you want to listen to something entertaining on a weekly basis is, well, Francesa, I mean, just when he falls asleep and asks dumb questions and says dumb things is entertaining. But the interview that he does on Mondays after the Sunday games with Eli and with Pat Shermer, this guy, Pat Shermer, I mean, he was an idiot and Cleveland. He's not cut out for New York. There is, I don't see this going very well. And I'll tell you this Tommy, Eli's not the problem. He's not been the problem in New York. I don't know what their solution to no Eli is next year. I'd bring Eli back if I were the Giants GM. I don't know what, I mean, is this guy, Kyle Laletta good? The Giants have lost six,

games by a touchdown or less. The season very easily could have gone in a different direction. I mean, so that Giants game here in a couple weeks is a big risk. I mean, because if you can't beat the Giants. Well, it's going to be a tough game.

Yes. Right now, the Redskins are a seven-point underdog at Philly. They will be an underdog at Tennessee. They will be an underdog. They'll be a favorite at home against the Giants. Yes. And who knows, when we get to the Philadelphia game, they might be favored at home against Philadelphia in that finale, depending on how the next few weeks go.

And Jacksonville just fired their offensive coordinator. They're going to start Cody Kessler the rest of the year. I know. I actually liked Kessler. I may have been the only one. But they could be, you know, ripe for the taking as well. The Redskins may be favored at Jacksonville when we get there. How great would it be for the division to come down?

for the division to come down to that last game at home against Philadelphia. It would be great. That would be great. It would be great. You know what would be great is if they were, you know, I just wonder what's going to really inspire the fan base. Because I talked about this yesterday, that there's this sense that it's like there's no direction here.

There's no air, which ways the error. pointing. It's not pointing up. It's not necessarily pointing way down. There's just this feeling of resignation, I think, after Thanksgiving Day. And you already had a ton of fans that were apathetic. Now you've got the fans that were hopeful of, hey, maybe this season and we're turning them over and we're winning the, you know, we're playing smart football. Maybe we can win 10, 11 games. Now it's like, well, they can't beat New Orleans or the Rams. They, have a quarter, they just spent all this money extending a quarterback that may be compromised because of a career-threatening injury.

And you're going to probably have a coaching change at the end of the, you know, it's, where are, if you get to that, let's just say you get to that final game against Philadelphia. I think that would be excitement, but not at the level it was when they played Dallas with RG3. No, it would not be. You know, because where is it going? What's the end game? The end game is, okay, you win, and then you host a game because you won the division,

but you're not going to beat New Orleans. No. You're not going to beat the Rams. And you know, Tommy, when I think about the very few playoff trips that this organization has had over the last quarter century, there was always hope in those, like 2005, they won five games in a row to get to the postseason. They beat Tampa, and no one was overly darned. in the NFC that year, Seattle, Chicago, and they had a chance at Seattle. Yes, they did.

You know, in 2007, when Todd Collins came in, 11 years ago today, as an aside, 11 years ago today is the day that Sean Taylor passed away. It's amazing. It's been 11 years. I'll never forget that day. I basically was on the air for 21 consecutive hours that day. But it was so sad, and we missed out on one of the all-time great players. convinced of it. And you know how death sometimes lifts someone's legend to a level that really

wasn't recognizable. You know, a lot of people have said over the years, you know, remember Sean Taylor, you know, he made a lot of big plays, but he missed on a lot of plays. If you go back and you look at his 2007 season, this was a player that had improved significantly, was approaching his prime years, was getting better. He was a Hall of Fame player in the making. I really do believe that. I don't think we have outsized the player he was because of his tragic death. Where was I going with this before I just got derailed? We were talking about the indifference of the Redskins fans. What's the end game?

Yeah, the end game. I don't know. The end game is it's got to be like a catch-fire run here for people to get really enthused. Beat Philadelphia on the road Monday night. Come home, beat the Giants. It's Colt McCoy's not only playing well. They're winning and they're winning, you know, let's score more than 24 points in the game this year. There you go.

You know, in an NFL offensive year. And then they go to Jacksonville and they win and they beat Tennessee in a big game. And now, you know, they've got a game against the Eagles where they have to win and the, you know, the Cowboys are still there. And you finish, how about finishing the year on a five-game win streak and going 11 and 5? That would do it. That would do it. What I was saying, and now I remember where I got sort of derailed, not in a bad way, because we remember Sean Taylor's Redskins, but 2007 with Todd Collins,

there was some hope going into that postseason that they were going to make a little bit of a run. They were playing great. They had beaten good teams like Minnesota and the Giants on the road down the stretch. You know, in 2012, obviously, the RG3 year, there was some hope, legitimate hope. They had a 14-0-0 lead on Seattle at home in that playoff. And I remember thinking, I'm like, they can go to Atlanta and win next week when they were up 14-0-0. And then maybe they can't beat San Francisco in the NFC championship game. But this year, though, you wouldn't have any sort of real aspiration of a run unless they were to win these five games.

But even then, are they going to beat New Orleans? No. No. Beat the Rams, no. Here's some of the differences between 2005, 2007, and 2012 and now. In all those instances, you had a coach who, according to DJ Sweringer, would probably not allow laid-back walkthroughs with people laughing before a big game. Right.

The DJ Sweringer has said after the game that the Redskins aren't going to be respected until they win big games, that they don't seem to practice seriously enough went on 106-7 the fan again yesterday and doubled down on it saying guys are smiling and laughing and they're not serious enough in the walkthroughs. And I mean, to me, that's like,

this is the guy who a couple weeks ago said to the fan base, you stink. Now he's saying, we stink. You know, so. I know. I mean, it's so bizarre. That's true. And that's a good one.

way to put it because he was part of the, you know, the Josh Norman DJ Sweringer tandem of calling out the fans. Yeah. And then you had Jake Rudin again yesterday post in the press conference saying, I got to do a better job coaching. I mean, how many times do we have to hear that? My gosh. Well, he blew it again with clock management and timeouts. He blew it again on Thursday. But, you know, it's, that's, that's, I'm not going to expect that to ever improve. Personally, personally, it would be one of the reasons I'd move on from a coach like that. My hire of a coach would know the fine line in all of these games and the little, in the details that you've got to really be sharp on to give your team a better chance.

And he just doesn't. He's not good at that stuff. But I don't know. The Sweringer stuff, yeah, you, I mean, you've got a coach that's loose. I talked to Clinton about this. And Clinton's like, I don't really have a problem with it. you know, it's because the coaching staff is loose, and then, you know, we followed up and had a conversation about whether or not that's, you know, hurtful. He said, look, I played for players,

coaches and Shanahan and Gibbs. They were players coaches, too, but not in the same way. Not in the same way. They Gruden is a players coach. No, not in the same way. I mean, Clinton delivered on Sundays, and that bought him that kind of goodwill from Shanahan and from Gibbs. Sweringer's played well this year. he has. But again, here's something else that I understand. Charlie Casley went on Twitter after Sweringer called out his teammates. And basically, and he's right. Normally, this is not good locker room culture.

Right. I mean, you know, maybe it'll work for over there at the Redskins, but normally this is not the way things are done. This is this guy's fourth team in six years. He's a good player. How come he's on his fourth team in six years? I don't know. It's a question that is totally, totally justifiable in asking. But I can just tell you that he's played really well this year. I thought he played well last year also. But it is ironic that the guy that called out the fan base is now calling out his own team.

Just a week later, or two weeks later, whatever it is. Netting it out, yeah, Jay Gruden's on the hook for Colt McCoy here. He's on the hook for a lot more than just Colt McCoy. But this could be the nail in the coffin, so to speak, for both of them in my view. But at the same time, greatness over these final five games, a five game run with Colt McCoy

winning NFC player of the month in December, and winning a playoff game could completely change the way everybody feels about the organization. And that, Tommy, is why they go ahead and play the games. I want to tell you real quickly about launch

workplaces in Bethesda. If you live in the Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Upper Northwest, D.C. area, Northern Virginia just over the American Legion Bridge in McLean, Great Falls, etc. And you don't want a long commute, and it's too hard to get work done from home. Check out the new launch workplaces in Bethesda. They've got flexible and affordable private office solutions so you can get work done. Beautiful new space providing fully furnished offices, conference rooms,

co-working desks, high-speed internet, complimentary drinks cafe, and free parking 24-7. work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces. If you call today 240 866714, 240 866714, tell them that Kevin Sheehan that I told you to call them, you'll get an exclusive free two-day trial if you want one. You can also find out all you need to know at launchworkplaces.com. One last quick thing, North Carolina hired Mac Brown. His coaching career at North Carolina, ran from 1988 to 1997. That's amazing to me. Like, Gibbs came back after 12 years. This is after 21 years,

right? Gibbs left. Yeah, but Mac Brown coached someplace after that. He did, and he retired in 2013, you know, as the coach that won Texas a national championship with Vince Young. It's just, I actually thought he was much older than he was. He's 67, right? Aaron, you look that up yesterday for me. Correct. So I actually thought he was older than he was, but I started to think about, you know, the potential coaches, I mean, Gibbs isn't going to come back and coach football, but, you know, from a Maryland football standpoint, and then I know that you wrote the other day that you do not think that they should hire Matt Canada. Barry's Ruluga wrote that they should rehire, that they should offer the job to Matt Canada. I'm more with you on that. I think that

they need a rainmaker of sorts. But Ralph Friegen, he's probably, he's probably, past the point where he can coach. I don't know if that, I'm not saying that physically, but from an age standpoint, I don't even think he probably has a desire to coach anymore, because if he did, he would be an offensive coordinator and would have been somewhere the last few years. But Matt Brown, back to North Carolina, I mean, 1988 is when he, I mean, when his career at North Carolina started, that's crazy. And here we are now 30 years later, and he's going to start a new career as the head coach. It's pretty remarkable.

I think North Carolina is one of those places that should win more in football. Beautiful facility, beautiful setting. But maybe it's a basketball school first. It is, but, you know, so is Texas. So is Oklahoma. Texas is not a basketball school first. Football school. Yeah, but I'm saying North Carolina is.

I'm sorry, I'm thinking more in, yeah, that's true. I'm thinking more of like an, you know, an Arizona or UCLA where you've had big runs. North Carolina has never had. the big run, you know, in football. There were moments in the 80s and recently with Fador, they had a good team a few years ago that was in the ACC championship game. I've always felt like North Carolina and Virginia should be more consistently good in football than they are. And Maryland should be that too.

It's not like North Carolina hasn't tried. They cheated the hell out of the program as best as they could. And it still didn't work. Yeah. Yeah. I find it interesting that they're going back to Mac Brown. Anyway, thanks for showing up today. It was great.

Hey, it was my pleasure. This was certainly better than my Thanksgiving holiday. Well, next year, if the Sheans are going to host again, which, you know, it'll probably happen. I mean, we talk a big game about, you know, taking Thanksgiving elsewhere next year. We'll probably end up hosting you are invited. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. you extend to me an invitation that still exists.

If you guys go away for Thanksgiving, no, we're not taking you with you. You're going to have to pay for that one. All right, thanks to Aaron. We've gotten Tommy on Colt McCoy. He thought he was terrible on Thursday. I didn't think he was as bad as Tommy thought he was. He'll be back on Thursday and we'll start to talk Eagles, Redskins then.

Tomorrow on the show, Chris Nakke is going to be on with me. We're trying to get Mark Turgeon on the show. Maryland plays Virginia in basketball tomorrow night. Maryland did end up getting ranked yesterday. They're 24th at 6 and 0. And the ACC Big 10 game for them is Virginia at Xfinity tomorrow night. That place will be packed and will be into it, I think, for the first time this year. So we'll do some of that on the show tomorrow.

I think Cooley is going to come on on Friday this week. Talk to him yesterday. Cooley will be on the show Friday. All right. Have a great day, everybody. Take care. Thank you.